After 18 years, USF president Judy Genshaft announcing plans to retire as USF president

University of South Florida president Judy Genshaft listens to a presentation at a 2016 workshop about the future of the athletics program. Genshaft, who has led the university for 18 years, is expected to announce her retirement on Monday. [OCTAVIO JONES | Times]

TAMPA — University of South Florida president Judy Genshaft, who in her 18 years at the school’s helm has steered the research powerhouse along a swift upward trajectory into a new era of ‘preeminence,’ will announce her retirement at a 2 p.m. press conference today.

The university, confirming earlier reports, announced her plans Monday morning, citing "an unparalleled stretch of recent achievements" for the school and its president.

Also on Monday, USF’s board of trustees will hold a conference call at 5:15 p.m., suggesting the panel will move quickly to find a replacement. Genshaft’s retirement will take effect July 1, 2019, the university said.

She will leave on a high note, and at a pivotal time for the USF System, now achieving at record-breaking academic levels and poised to consolidate its three universities into one, a way of anchoring USF’s rising star more firmly across the Tampa Bay region.

Genshaft, 70, has been as relentless a cheerleader as ever for her beloved Bulls in recent years as she has celebrated both USF’s $1 billion fundraising campaign and its ascent into the ranks of the state’s ‘preeminent’ universities, earning a coveted — and lucrative — spot alongside the University of Florida and Florida State.

She has led USF to refine its focus, working to graduate its diverse pool of students more quickly and bolster its reputation in research and medicine, with a state-of-the-art medical school now rising in downtown Tampa.

Under her watch, traditional dorms have taken root, helping USF outgrow its commuter school image. Research funding and patents have boomed, with annual research expenditures over $568 million putting USF on a national playing field and making it a key player in the Tampa Bay region.

And each freshman class keeps growing stronger. USF’s six-year graduation rate of 70 percent is a far cry from the 38 percent rate when Genshaft arrived, back when USF was unofficially dubbed "U Stay Forever."

Genshaft has weathered her share of controversies, such as her decision to fire tenured computer science professor Sami Al-Arian in 2003, drawing international debate about academic freedom as he was accused of terrorist activities, indicted by federal prosecutors and later deported.

She also clashed with defenders of USF St. Petersburg, who accused Tampa administrators of starving the separately accredited school of money and freedom, and even said Genshaft ousted those who were not sufficiently loyal.

USF likely will launch a national search for a new leader, who will inherit Genshaft’s remaining goals, such as reducing the student-to-faculty ratio, elevating USF football and landing USF a spot among the nation’s best institutions in the Association of American Universities.

Genshaft is expected to stay on as USF’s leader through the end of the fiscal year, retiring in July 2019. A letter from her to the campus community is to be sent out Monday morning.

"She’s going to leave a legacy that will be very hard to follow," said state Sen. Jeff Brandes, who on Sunday evening had, like many, heard the rapidly spreading news, though he hadn’t spoken to Genshaft directly. "An incredible legacy, an incredible woman."

Several state, local and university officials reached by the Times on Sunday had heard of Genshaft’s impending announcement, but said that she had personally asked them to keep the news quiet until she had the chance to tell students herself.

Genshaft arrived at USF after a national search in 2000, on the heels of another powerful and long-serving female leader, Betty Castor. She was previously vice president of Academic Affairs at the University of Albany in New York. In her long tenure at USF, she became one of the highest-paid university presidents in the nation, with her current contract paying up to $925,000, given her performance.

Genshaft, who was celebrating Rosh Hashanah on Sunday, did not return a call for comment.

Times staff writer Paul Guzzo and Times correspondent William March contributed to this report. Contact Claire McNeill at [email protected] or (727) 893-8321.

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The Judy Genshaft era at USF | A timeline

July 5, 2000: Judy Genshaft’s first day at USF.

December 2000: Women’s basketball coach Jerry Ann Winters fired after administrators conclude she retaliated against a player for participating in an internal review of racial discrimination claims against the coach.

June 2002: St. Petersburg leaders criticize Genshaft over the ouster of Bill Heller, longtime leader of USF St. Petersburg.

February 2003: Al-Arian arrested on federal charges, then fired.

October 2003: Genshaft orders medical school dean Robert Daugherty to resign after he asks his staff to contribute to the U.S. Senate campaign of state House Speaker Johnnie Byrd.

August 2007: Two USF students are arrested in South Carolina and charged with possession of an explosive device. One acquitted. One sentenced to 15 years for posting a YouTube video showing how to turn a child’s toy into a detonator.

November 2007: USF tightens vaccination requirements for students after a sophomore dies of bacterial meningitis.

June 2008: USF St. Petersburg put on probation for not meeting two accrediting standards; gets off probation a year later.

May 2009: Genshaft says USF will review safety procedures for university-organized trips abroad after a recent USF graduate drowns off the coast of Costa Rica.

August 2009: The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that from 2000 to 2007 USF increased its federal research funding 213 percent, faster than any university in the nation.

October 2009: USF rolls out "Unstoppable," a $600 million fundraising campaign.

January 2010: Genshaft fires USF’s first football coach, Jim Leavitt, after an investigation finds he grabbed a player by the throat, slapped him twice and lied to investigators about the incident. Skip Holtz is hired to take his place a week later.

August 2010: Genshaft is elected to serve a term as chairwoman of the NCAA Board of Directors.

February 2011: Genshaft and her husband, Steven Greenbaum, donate $1 million to USF over five years for scholarships aiding students studying abroad. Two months earlier, she was awarded a five-year contract that paid her $470,000 annually with bonuses that could bring the total to $745,000. The couple had previously donated $400,000 to the school.

December 2011: Frank and Carol Morsani donate $20 million and put their name on USF’s Morsani College of Medicine.

February 2012: The Florida Senate votes to split off USF’s Lakeland branch as a new stand-alone school, creating Florida Polytechnic University.

October 2012: Kiran and Pallavi Patel create a $12 million endowment to transform a University of South Florida graduate program into USF’s Patel College of Global Sustainability.

October 2014: Les and Pam Muma donate $25 million to name the College of Business in Tampa.

September 2015: USF garners a record $441 million in research dollars during the 2014-15 academic year, Genshaft announces during her fall address.

March 2016: USF’s Board of Trustees raises Genshaft’s base salary to $493,500, a 5 percent bump. With a bonus based on performance, and deferred compensation, she could make up to $867,200.

September 2017: Construction begins in downtown Tampa on USF’s Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute.

October 2017: USF St. Petersburg regional chancellor Sophia Wisniewska is ousted after Hurricane Irma, for incompetence and "lack of leadership." Wisniewska is excoriated by Genshaft for her decisions amid the storm.

November 2017: USF surpasses its $1 billion fundraising goal. The Mumas donate another $15 million to encourage continued giving.

June 2018: The Florida Board of Governors, looking at USF’s achievements in academics and research, unanimously vote to designate USF as a preeminent state research university, winning USF more than $6 million in bonus dollars.

September 2018: Genshaft unveils USF’s new academic logo during her fall address last Wednesday.

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